“Are you going to get that?” Aurelia asked, tilting her head.
“No. I am not,” I said, still staring into the endless blue of her eyes.
Another knock. Then a voice, muffled and uneasy. “Hello? Hi… I’m sorry, but I think I lost Aurelia?” Santiago called from the hallway.
Aurelia’s mouth twitched into a genuine smile before she burst into laughter—light, breathless, a sound that warmed the air between us and made the room feel impossibly small.
“Santi, I’m fine,” she said, pulling it open.
Santiago stood in the hall, wide-eyed, his face completely drained of color. Behind him, Lysara appeared.
Aurelia’s smile faded. She stepped forward and wrapped both arms around Lysara.
Lysara stiffened, startled, arms still at her sides. She exhaled, softened, and finally returned the embrace.
“Oh yes, group hug,” Santiago said, dramatically wrapping hisarms around them both. Then, without warning, he scooped them both up and began marching toward Aurelia’s room.
Laughter trailed behind them, echoing down the corridor. For the first time in a long while, the sound didn’t hurt to hear.
I stepped forward to shut the door.
Before it closed, Aurelia reappeared—breathless, smiling, her hair slightly mussed.
She dipped into a deep, exaggerated bow. “Save a dance for me.” And then she was gone.
24
Aurelia
I lingeredoutside my door until I heard Santiago’s voice fade down the hall, Lysara’s softer tones tugging after it. Their footsteps receded, a door thudded shut, and silence followed.
Only then did I turn the other way. Ten paces. At the end of the corridor, a narrow passage slanted down, lit by a single slit window where mist pressed thick against warped glass. Below, I glimpsed the pale smear of courtyard stone. Surely this stair led outside. Surely the door at the bottom wasn’t locked.
The stair breathed cold. Stone sweated under my feet, torchlight thinning, the air humming. Aeryn’s face rose where my breath should have been—his pupils swallowed in black, his voice a thread:I stay for you.
I stepped outside. Cold bit instantly. My breath ghosted fast in the air as I took in my surroundings. The night stretched wide around me. Stone paths crossed in neat grids, vanishing into the mist that hugged the keep. The castle felt too small. Too loud. Too full of hands that wanted to touch and eyes that wanted to claim.
I needed air. Just air.
So I walked. Farther than I meant to.
And by the time I realized where the corridor led, cold mist was already curling around my ankles. At first, silence. Then pressure. Then love—suffocating, endless.
I had wandered into the Veil.
The shadows slid up my wrists and slicked over my ribs. When I gasped, they poured into my mouth and lungs, adoration thick and drowning.
They whispered. Not in words, but in a sound my bones understood.Stay.Ours.Hush.A hundred soft mouths pressed against my skin, breathing into me. The Veil pulsed like a heartbeat, matching mine.
Love. Claim. Keep.
My lungs cinched. My vision narrowed. The sweetness turned to weight—hands that wanted to worship, then smother. Something ripped me back.
“Of all the places to wander…” he said, closing his hand around my arm. “You do enjoy tempting fate.”
Reality slammed back in jagged pieces—his grip, the cold air, the cut of his breath. For a fraction too long, the shadows clung to my ribs like they didn’t want to let me go, and Kaelith’s face blurred with theirs.Claim. Keep.His eyes held the same promise.
I hit him. My fist cracked across his mouth. His head snapped. He licked the blood slow and smiled, sharp.